Store Your Food

Let nature keep your food cool. In the old days people relied on pantries and root cellars to help keep produce and other provisions fresh. Ice boxes made way for refrigerators, which are obviously much more convenient, but somehow the use of cool pantries and root cellars also fell by the wayside. This is too bad because these spaces havefunctions that a refrigerator simply can't

	The temperature in the pantry ranges between about 40 and 60 degrees F. year round.

replace. Root cellars can store large quantities of produce from the time of harvest until the next summer. Cool pantries can store some produce, but also all manner of other foodstuffs and kitchen supplies can be kept there. Cool, dry storage is the best way to preserve most food. The cool of the earth can keep a totally bermed pantry or root cellar cool; the night air can also be used to cool a storage room. The convenience and security of having ample provisions at your fingertips can not be beat.

	From the outside, the pantry just looks like a mound of earth. Notice the air vents to the right and at the top.